In what must shurly be a shock for smugly complacent Canadians (we have the best health care in the world – not) Rick Holley, a professor in the department of food science at the University of Manitoba says that Canada’s food isn’t as healthy as everyone thinks.

In the most appropriate use of the word "eh" I’ve seen today, Holley asked his audience in a March 19 seminar,

"So food in Canada is the safest in the world, eh?"

Every year, one in three people suffered a food-related illness, and around 500 to 1,000 cases were fatal.

Holley said if an outbreak does occur, only one in five people seek medical attention and, out of these, samples are only collected from 13 per cent of these cases. Twice as many Canadians are infected with salmonella and camylobacter when compared to Americans, and eight times as many Canadians than American report E. coli infections.

"These aren’t exactly results you would expect to see if Canada’s food is the safest in the world."

Holley also noted the United States has set targets to drastically cut the spread of these illnesses, which Canada has not.